With a wizardry all its own, internationally renowned modern acrobatic dance company Diavolo Dance Theater incorporates thrilling stunts with incredible interactive props in its one-of-a-kind performances at Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 8 & 9, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. Under Artistic Director Jacques Heim, Diavolo’s widely acclaimed dancers, gymnasts, athletes, and actors deliver a magnificent visual experience, exciting audiences with one powerful image after another. By employing oversized, surrealistic sets and props, Diavolo creates a sense of daring that juxtaposes human fragility and survival – and accomplishes its metaphors of the challenges of relationships, the absurdities of life, and the struggle to maintain our humanity in the shadow of an increasingly technological world. Audiences thrilled by Momix and Piloboluswill be blown away by Diavolo.
In its October 8 & 9 performances, Diavolo performs two, large scale works. Transit Space explores themes of feeling lost, finding a sense of purpose, and coming together. Influenced by the documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, Transit Spaceuses skateboard ramps as set pieces to represent an urban environment with ever-shifting physical and emotional spaces.
In Trajectoire, a visceral and emotional journey through the ebb and flow of the human experience is on display. As the performers struggle to find their balance on a voyage of destiny and destination, Trajectoire shows the transcendence of the human soul against all odds.
Diavolo’s members are an incredibly diverse group of performers – but above all, they are teammates. Under the guidance of Artistic Director Jacques Heim, they collaboratively develop works on massive sets and everyday structures. Heim’s childhood struggles and his journeys as a French-Jewish man shape his thematic choices within urban landscapes. Heim strives to propel the evolution of dance and entertainment through Diavolo, and to further integrate the arts into mainstream America. The company’s works explore the space between reality and imagination to create thrilling and abstract narratives about the human condition. They investigate the latent absurdities of contemporary human life while seeking to re-contextualize those absurdities through the body, exploring the influences of the environment, possessions and relationships.
Diavolo Dance Theatre’s Asheville performance is made possible with support from The Art Fryar Charitable Trust; and by Performance Sponsors Nancy Houha & William Hilson, and by Mainstage Dance Series Sponsors Hedy Fischer & Rancy Shull, Tina & John McGuire, Ronna & Rob Resnick, BMW of Asheville, and Diamond Brand Outdoors; with additional support from Media Sponsors WNC magazine and WCQS 88.1FM.
The new entrance for the Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place is marked by the location of the theatre’s new marquee between 12 and 14 Biltmore Avenue. Patrons enter the theatre through the breezeway between Marble Slab Creamery and Circle in the Square restaurants, and into a large interior courtyard for Pack Place with multiple glass doors to the theatre’s lower lobby and new box office. The intimate theatre seats just over 500 and boasts exceptional acoustics and sightlines, making it the premier performance space in all of Western North Carolina. The Mainstage Series is supported by a grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, a state agency. The Mainstage Series 2013/2014 Season Sponsors are the Asheville Scene, Blue Moon Water, Creative Energy, Laurey’s Catering and Gourmet-to-go, the North Carolina Arts Council, and the Renaissance Asheville Hotel. To obtain more information on the Mainstage Series or to purchase tickets, call the theatre’s box office at (828) 257-4530 or visit www.dwtheatre.com.